is there any way to get the pics that neptune wahine posted on page one BIGGER!!!! they look like great shots .
_________________ etsy.com/sophistatiki. Everything from my newest line- Castaway Cravats to prints of my Tiki Magazine Cover.

LIHU‘E — An early morning fire today did an estimated $80,000 damage to a portion of the shuttered Coco Palms Resort in Wailua, according to a county press release.

Around 1,000 square feet of a building of the resort formerly occupied by a retail store on the second floor of the wooden structure was destroyed by the fire.

Firefighters had the initial blaze under control by 4 a.m. after the 3:05 a.m. alarm, but were called to return around 9:30 a.m. when the fire flared again, according to the county press release and property caretaker Wayne Perreira.

The fire was fully extinguished by 10:30 a.m., the press release states.

Perreira’s office suffered water damage, he said. There is no electricity in the building where the fire took place, Kaua‘i Fire Department officials said.

Perreira’s office has electricity.

An investigation is ongoing to determine the cause of the fire.

Two trucks from the Kapa‘a fire station, three from Lihu‘e and a battalion chief responded to the initial alarm, the press release states.

WAILUA —Charred wood and melted glass is all that remains of about one third
of the northern portion of the former retail annex to the world-famous
Coco Palms after a Thursday morning blaze further decimated
a once-iconic hotel already in disrepair for years.

“There’s nothing left,” said Hawai‘i Movie Tours owner Bob Jasper, who was on scene with wife Jerri as soon as hotel caretaker Wayne Perreira alerted them to the situation.

Approximately 1,000 square feet of the wooden building’s second floor was destroyed early Thursday morning, amounting to some $80,000 in damage, according to a county press release.

“It’s very sad,” Jerri Jasper said after firefighters left the property for a second time around 10:30 a.m. “We’re just really relieved they stopped it as quick as they did.”

Coco Palms is important to the Jaspers’ business as Hawai‘i Movie Tours has tours of the property for visitors and provides free visits for kama‘aina twice each month.

The blaze was initially deemed under control before 4 a.m. following a response from firefighters to a 3:05 a.m. alarm. But reports of a flare-up prompted them to return around 9:30 a.m., according to the county press release.

The fire “had to be manmade because there is no power in the building,” Bob Jasper said.

Whether it was intentionally started is anyone’s guess at this point, Jerri Jasper said.

However, vandalism, theft and squatters have been common occurrences since Hurricane ‘Iniki obliterated the property in 1992. The fence — built about a decade ago — has been ineffective at thwarting trespassers, Bob Jasper said.

“Someone’s responsible for this,” he said.

Even if it was a “camper” trying to keep warm by building a fire, they should still be held accountable, Jerri Jasper said. “People should know better.”

This is the second time a fire has hit the hotel since it opened in 1953, said Larry Rivera, an entertainer who worked at Coco Palms for several decades.

“A long time ago, the library burned down,” he said Thursday.

This time, however, keepsakes were safe, Rivera said, as he carted boxes full of Coco Palms memorabilia away from the smoldering ruins.

“This place is very near and dear to my heart and this is just a shame,” Jerri Jasper said, adding that she hopes someone will come forth if they witnessed anything “suspicious.”

Although the Kaua‘i “landmark” is a mere shadow of what it once was, she said she would like to see the 400-room hotel “come back” to life some day.

To be able to “focus on the rich history,” allow it to be open to the public and honor the kama‘aina would be ideal, Bob Jasper agreed. “This place means a lot to people.”

Pat Griffin, head of the Friends of Coco Palms steering committee dedicated to the acquisition of the Coco Palms property for public benefit, said Thursday that Coco Palms has a long, important history.

“It was a place that was open to local folks as well as grand travelers, very well-known entertainment personalities as well as political and royal dignitaries,” she said. “It was a place that really in the early Kaua‘i resort era ... set the standard for many years.”

She said the fishpond was designated on the National Register of Historic Places earlier this year.

“There was glamour to it and there was theater to it, and people really loved it. There are people who are now, 40 years later, still in contact with one another because their time visiting the Coco Palms was so special,” she said. “It holds so much history from so many periods in our past.”

Earlier this year, the Kaua‘i Planning Commission granted developers a three-year extension to various permits, giving them until 2013 to clean and refurbish the dilapidated historic hotel fronting Kuhio Highway in Wailua.

Demolition of the existing structure is one of the major hurdles standing in the way of the planned project, and it is unclear how the blaze impacts that objective.

The CocoPalms must have been wonderful in its day, but now it is delapidated.
I also wonder if another fire would ruin the wonderful coconut grove.

I wish a developer would get the financing, tear it down and rebuild as it is in a great location and right across the beach, and that area needs more oceanfront bar & grills - Scotty's BBQ may be the only one.

We drove past this lovely resort on our last trip to Kaua'i. You can't help but drive past it really...
The beautiful building is still seen from the road, and it yanked at my heart-strings to see it in such shape. When I was young I remember my grandma listening to Elvis, and watching Blue Hawaii... and grandpa saying one day he would take her to the Coco Palms. He was stationed on Oahu before they got married, but hasn't been back to the islands since. (It's been 55 years now.)

In its current state he will never get to see it...

As a long term writing project I aim to tell the story of Coco Palms, so that its memory will live on. If anyone would like to contribute please email me. jleigh3606@gmail.com (Please indicate Coco Palms in the subject.)

I am hoping to talk to not just former employees, but people who have stayed there/were married there... both before and after its abandonment. Even local businesses affected by its stagnation. Really, anyone with pictures, video, news articles or personal stories about this wonderful icon...

There is too much history and too many memories there to just let it waste away. Too many people have been touched by this place, and sadly half as many know of its recently sad story.

That is great news! While we get to celebrate the preservation of this famous mid-century Hawaiian landmark we are, sadly, losing another as we watch the final two weeks of the International Marketplace in Waikiki before it is -- really -- torn down. Both the International Marketplace and the Coco Palms had appearances in Elvis' "Blue Hawaii" in common.
_________________I need to spend more time in my bar and less time posting on Tiki Central...

My Future Hawaii holiday - after this years Hawaii holiday and after So-Cal next year.

"Kauai’s Coco Palms – the once world-famous resort has been in disarray since it was shut down abruptly by Hurricane Iniki 21 years ago. An approval by Kauai County Council has given the establishment a chance under a county ordinance that allows developers to restore hurricane-damaged structures to their pre-Iniki condition without the requirements of adhering to current stricter health and safety standards. Coco Palms Hui LLC has been given a 24-month window by the county to refurbish the resort to its former glory, and to transform it into a premier destination and cultural icon. Tentative plans are to renovate three guest-room buildings along Kuhio Highway and repair five hotel structures, including Seashell Restaurant, Queen’s Audience Hall and Chapel Palms.

According to The Garden Island newspaper, Coco Palms Hui developers are working with Hawaiian Land Trust and state Department of Land and Natural Resources to determine whether four acres of an adjacent 20-acre site can be set aside for a cultural center or pavilion per the hui’s tentative plans. The remaining 16 acres will be designated preservation and conservation.

Coco Palms made its mark in the film industry during the final scenes of Blue Hawaii. My sisters and their friends drooled over Elvis Presley when they saw him crooning The Hawaiian Wedding Song to actress Joan Blackman. That scene remains vivid in my memory as the King and his bride-tobe stood stationary on a double-hulled canoe that was flooded with fresh island flowers, as they flowed through the lagoon to the Wedding Chapel. Perhaps future weddings at Coco Palms Resort will be popular someday following rebuilding efforts.

Seven years after Blue Hawaii, Elvis would return to Coco Palms with his real-life wife Priscilla. Ellen Garcia of Lihue met Presley during his 1968 vacation, along with Priscilla and the Presleys’ newborn Lisa Marie. Garcia tells me she looks forward to the new and improved resort, but says, “It won’t be the same without Elvis,” who sang Kuuipo to her when they met briefly in April 1968 in the grove of some 2,000 coconut trees at Coco Palms."

It will be interesting to see if the final development limits itself to the same height and refuses the urge to add condos, timeshares, etc.

I always wonder what rate of return and the turn-around time for such developments work. If I was a financier, I would want to maximize the return, which would necessarily mean more development. However, as a visitor to Kauai, I hope the original features of the lagoon, the facade and the coconut grove at the rear of the property are all maintained.

The county's Iniki ordinance that they will be operating under limits them to rebuilding to the same building 'footprint'. And reports have said it will have fewer rooms, something like 280 vs 330 that CCP had before.
Plus, they can't build higher than it was, there's a law limiting building heights to no taller than a coconut tree.